Weather News

Storms drench Glen Innes and Tamworth

Heavy rainfall, flash flooding and strong winds have hit parts of the region on Wednesday afternoon.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the North West Slopes and Plains and the Northern Tablelands weather districts.

Armidale, Inverell, Tamworth, Moree and Mungindi were impacted by the deluge

From lunchtime on Monday until 8:30pm on Monday night, Glen Innes received 38mm and Tamworth recorded 32mm, while Gunnedah recorded just 7mm during the same period.

Officer in charge at the Moree Weather Bureau, Michael Glasson, says the storm activity is being driven by the collision of three systems.

"There's a surface trough moving through NSW and it's currently over north-eastern NSW; there's a low pressure system over south-west NSW; and there's an upper level feature coming through from the West so we've got widespread storm activity right across our region."

Meantime, Tamworth Regional Council closed all sporting fields from late Monday afternoon.

User groups who were due to train, or play, on the grounds were contacted.

Council says staff will re-assess the condition of the playing surfaces on Thursday.

Acting Parks and Horticulture Manager, Hugh Leckie, says if the water is not allowed to drain the fields will be damaged and people who use them could be put at undue risk.

"The closure's basically just to let the ground soak up the rain rather than have everyone trample all over it and just turn it into mud," he said.

"You know, you get big, decent puddles of water which then can create slip problems as well as potential drowning situations for small kids"

While most Queenslanders sheltered inside during the past week of severe storms, a breed of professional photographers known as storm chasers were outside, braving the danger to get the best possible shot.

Sign up for extended content and features

Weatherzone makes it easy for you to choose the access level that suits you best from a huge range of weather information and tools unrivalled in Australia.